September 30, 2024

Posts Comments

Easter Thursday – Jesus appears to His diciples after the Resurrection – Peace be to You

April 9, 2015 by

Daily Prayer for April 9

 

 
 

Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. John 14:18-21, NIV

Lord our God, dear Father in heaven, we are gathered in your presence through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Reveal to us our Savior Jesus Christ. May the Savior be revealed to us; otherwise in our need we will never come through. Grant that at this late hour for the world we may see him as he is, and through him and through the kingdom that he brings we may be lifted above the troubles of our time. Strengthen our hearts every day, and fill us with joy because you guide everything on earth as in heaven; in the end you will give us the victory that belongs to the kingdom you have founded. May we be comforted through all eternity in this kingdom, a kingdom far greater and more glorious than all the kingdoms of the world. Amen.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Easter Wednesday – On the Road to Emmaus

April 8, 2015 by

Daily Prayer for April 8

Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20, NIV

Lord our God, we thank you for revealing your rulership, which is for the good of each of us. Each one of us will become what we ought to be when our faith is united with your divine power. Protect this faith in us through every temptation and through all we have yet to endure in this earthly life. Free us again and again for one thing alone, that your kingdom may come into being within us and around us, to the praise and glory of the everlasting truth you have given us in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Daily Dig for April 8

N.T. Wright

I do not know how the painting an artist paints today in prayer and wisdom will find a place in God’s new world. I don’t know what musical instruments we will have to play Bach, though I’m sure Bach’s music will be there. I don’t know how my planting a tree today will relate to the wonderful trees that will be in God’s recreated world. I don’t know how my work for justice for the poor, for remission of global debts, will reappear in that new world. But I know that God’s new world of justice and joy, of hope for the whole earth, was launched when Jesus came out of the tomb on Easter morning; I know he calls me and you to live in him and by the power of his spirit, and so to be new-creation people here and now, giving birth to signs and symbols of the kingdom on earth as in heaven.

Source: Surprised by Scripture
Filed Under: Uncategorized

Easter Tuesday

April 7, 2015 by
 
 
 
 

Daily Dig for April 7

Emil Bruner

Our Lord Christ speaks: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” Thus he says: You have no idea who I am and what I mean for you, have done and will do for you, if you do not look beyond this life to eternity.… If you want to understand me, you must go beyond the temporal to the eternal, for I am he who brings the kingdom of God to you.… To those who are satisfied with the world and the things of the world I will have nothing – nothing at all – to say except this: that they must go to their own ruin. But to those who have noticed that this earthly life in itself has no meaning but can receive its meaning only from beyond, to them I say: I guarantee you this goal; yes, even more: I am this goal. I am the resurrection and the life.
Source: I Believe in the Living God

Daily Prayer for April 7

Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16–17, NIV Lord our God and our Father, we thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit, who binds us to you. Give us continually afresh something of this Spirit so that we can go forward with light shining on the paths we must follow on earth. Grant us your Spirit, grant that light may break into our whole life and we can rejoice because we experience so much of what you are doing. For through the power of your Spirit you can help us toward your future and all that is to come, that we may live not only in time but in eternity. Amen.

Posted by at

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Easter Monday

April 6, 2015 by

Daily Dig for April 6

George Bernard Shaw

This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

Source: Seeking Peace
Filed Under: Uncategorized

Easter Sunday The Pope’s Easter Message

April 5, 2015 by

“Love triumphs!” Text of pope’s Easter message

by Cindy Wooden
Pope Francis delivers Easter message from central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. (screen grab)

Pope Francis delivers Easter message from central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. (screen grab)
VATICAN CITY — Here is the Vatican’s English translation of Pope Francis’ Easter message. He delivered it from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica today before giving his solemn blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Jesus Christ is risen!
Love has triumphed over hatred, life has conquered death, light has dispelled the darkness!
Out of love for us, Jesus Christ stripped himself of his divine glory, emptied himself, took on the form of a slave and humbled himself even to death, death on a cross. For this reason God exalted him and made him Lord of the universe. Jesus is Lord!
By his death and resurrection, Jesus shows everyone the way to life and happiness: this way is humility, which involves humiliation. This is the path which leads to glory. Only those who humble themselves can go towards the “things that are above”, towards God (cf. Col 3:1-4). The proud look “down from above”; the humble look “up from below.”
On Easter morning, alerted by the women, Peter and John ran to the tomb. They found it open and empty. Then they drew near and “bent down” in order to enter it. To enter into the mystery, we need to “bend down”, to abase ourselves. Only those who abase themselves understand the glorification of Jesus and are able to follow him on his way.
The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete, that we prevail… But Christians, by the grace of Christ, dead and risen, are the seeds of another humanity, in which we seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help.
This is not weakness, but true strength! Those who bear within them God’s power, his love and his justice, do not need to employ violence; they speak and act with the power of truth, beauty and love.
From the risen Lord we ask the grace not to succumb to the pride which fuels violence and war, but to have the humble courage of pardon and peace. We ask Jesus, the Victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence.
We ask for peace, above all, for Syria and Iraq, that the roar of arms may cease and that peaceful relations may be restored among the various groups which make up those beloved countries. May the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees.
We pray for peace for all the peoples of the Holy Land. May the culture of encounter grow between Israelis and Palestinians and the peace process be resumed, in order to end years of suffering and division.
We implore peace for Libya, that the present absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence may cease, and that all concerned for the future of the country may work to favour reconciliation and to build a fraternal society respectful of the dignity of the person. For Yemen too we express our hope for the growth of a common desire for peace, for the good of the entire people.
At the same time, in hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world.
We ask the risen Lord for the gift of peace for Nigeria, South Sudan and for the various areas of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. May constant prayer rise up from all people of goodwill for those who lost their lives –- I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya –- for all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones.
May the Lord’s resurrection bring light to beloved Ukraine, especially to those who have endured the violence of the conflict of recent months. May the country rediscover peace and hope thanks to the commitment of all interested parties.
We ask for peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups. Peace and liberty for the victims of drug dealers, who are often allied with the powers who ought to defend peace and harmony in the human family. And we ask peace for this world subjected to arms dealers.
May the marginalized, the imprisoned, the poor and the migrants who are so often rejected, maltreated and discarded, the sick and the suffering, children, especially those who are victims of violence; all who today are in mourning, and all men and women of goodwill, hear the consoling voice of the Lord Jesus: “Peace to you!” (Lk 24:36). “Fear not, for I am risen and I shall always be with you” (cf. Roman Missal, Entrance Antiphon for Easter Day).

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Easter Vigil and Dinning Room Ready for the Celebration. Alleluia

April 4, 2015 by

Awaiting Easter
Bare twisted tree branches,
Like connections of
crossings paths of our minds,
leading to memories once
thought dead.
 
Better than dead they seem,
Listless and lifeless they stand,
from winter’s sleeping season.
 
But Spring is slowly seeping in,
And the bleakness
gives birth to Easter joy.
 
We too, stand perched
on the edge of the Wind
buffeted often by our own pride.
 
We await the freshness of the
New Season
The walk with YOU
in the Spring of the
Easter Day.
FV
 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

HOLY SATURDAY – GRAIN OF WHEAT – by Father Robert Barron

April 4, 2015 by
 
 
 
 
HOLY SATURDAY – GRAIN OF WHEAT by Father Rober Barron
What is the message that Jesus has for the world? At first he seems to confirm his followers’ hopes: “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.” Great! Finally, after putting things off for so long, he is ready; the moment has come.

But then he clarifies: “I solemnly assure you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies it produces much fruit.” Believe me, this is not what his followers wanted to hear.

The Jews had had more than enough experience with death. They had lived under oppression for centuries and their glory days were long ago. The Roman boot was pressing down upon them. Those who would endeavor to throw it off were imprisoned or killed. And now this one, upon whom they had pinned their hopes, at the high point of his life, is speaking of falling to the earth and dying.

Then it gets stranger: “The man who loves his life loses it, while the man who hates his life in this world, preserves it to life eternal.” Come again?!

To understand what all this means, we should go back to the great image that Jesus uses, the grain of wheat that falls to the earth. A seed, resting by itself, can exist for a long time. In fact, they have found seeds in the tombs of the Pharaohs and seeds in fossil remains. But unless they fall into the soil and crack open, nothing further comes of them. Their life is inside, yes, but it’s a life that grows by being given away and mixing with the soil around it. It has to crack open and be destroyed. But even after a very long time, a seed can grow into a flourishing plant. The oldest seed that has grown into a viable plant was a 2000-year-old date palm seed from excavations at Herod the Great‘s palace on Masada in Israel. It was germinated in 2005.

When you look at a great tree or a plant, you see none of the original seed, and yet you see life. The same is true of the cross. When Christians look at the cross, we no longer see death, but eternal life.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Pope Francis and his Reflections on the Way of the Cross

April 3, 2015 by

Pope Francis’ personal reflections at the end of the Way of the Cross

by Carol Glatz
5francis

Pope Francis presiding over last year’s Way of the Cross ceremony outside the Colosseum. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) (April 18, 2014)
ROME — Pope Francis gave his own meditation at the end of the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum this evening. Here is our translation of his remarks in Italian:
O Crucified and victorious Christ.
Your Way of the Cross is the synthesis of your life, the icon of your obedience to the Father’s will, it is the fulfillment of your infinite love for us sinners.
It is the ordeal of your mission.
It is the definitive fulfillment of the revelation and history of salvation.
The weight of your cross frees us from all of our burdens.
In your obedience to the Father’s will, we notice our rebellion and disobedience.
In you, sold, betrayed, crucified by your people and those dear to you, we see our daily betrayals and our habitual unfaithfulness.
In your innocence, immaculate lamb, we see our guilt.
In your face, that has been slapped, spat on and disfigured, we see the brutality of our sins.
In the cruelty of your Passion, we see the cruelty of our heart and our actions.
In your feeling abandoned, we see all those who have been abandoned by their family, by society, by people’s attention and solidarity.
In your sacrificed, lacerated and tormented body, we see the body of our brothers and sisters abandoned along the roadside, disfigured by our negligence and our indifference.
In you thirst Lord, we see the thirst of your merciful Father who wanted — through you — to embrace, forgive and save all of humanity.
In you, Divine Love, we still see today our brothers and sisters who are persecuted, decapitated and crucified for their faith in you, in front of our eyes or often with our silent complicity.
Let the feelings of faith, hope, charity and sorrow for our sins be ingrained in our hearts, Lord, and lead us to repent for our sins that have crucified you.
Lead us to transform our conversion made of words into a conversion of life and deeds.
Lead us to safeguard inside of us a vivid memory of your disfigured face, so as to never forget the enormous price you paid to free us.
Crucified Jesus, strengthen the faith in us so that it not give in before temptations, rekindle hope in us, so that it not get lost by following the world’s seductions.
Protect charity in us, so that it not be deceived by corruption and worldliness.
Teach us that the cross is the way to resurrection.
Teach us that Good Friday is the path towards the Easter of light.
Teach us that God never forgets any of his children and he never tires of forgiving us and embracing us with his infinite mercy.
But also teach us to not get tired of asking Him for forgiveness and to believe in the Father’s limitless mercy.
5flamecross

Rome’s Colosseum where Pope Francis presided over the Way of the Cross ceremony. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) (April 18, 2014)
Then the pope recited the Soul of Christ prayer by St. Ignatius of Loyola:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
Good Jesus, hear me
Within the wounds, shelter me
from turning away, keep me
From the evil one, protect me
At the hour of my death, call me
Into your presence lead me
to praise you with all your saints
Forever and ever
Amen
Finally the pope gave his blessing and said to everyone: “Now let us return home with the recollection of Jesus in his Passion, of his great love and also with the hope of his joyous resurrection.”
During tonight’s ceremony, the cross was carried by a different group of people for each of the 14 stations. The groups included three Italian families as well as lay Catholics and religious who live in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, the Holy Land, Nigeria and China — areas of the world where Christians experience great hardship.
The meditations, written by a longtime spiritual director, 79-year-old Bishop Renato Corti, reflected on how God protects his people and calls everyone to watch over each other.
Carol Glatz | April 3, 2015 at 5:47 pm | Categories: CNS, Vatican | URL: http://wp.me/peBMy-8r0
Comment See all comments Like
Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from CNS Blog.
Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions.
Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

 

 
 
     
 
 

          Filed Under: Uncategorized

          Good Friday

          April 3, 2015 by
           
           
           
           
           
          Isis said it.
          We believe it
          We are the people of the Cross.
          It is from that Cross,
          the Tree of Life
          that all goodness flows.
          May those who have been martyred
          Live forever
          in the presence of
          the Victor over death
          and may they intercede
          for us.
          Amen
          Filed Under: Uncategorized

          Holy Thursday April 2 Reflection by Father Robert Barron and Pope Francis’ Homily for Holy Thursday

          April 2, 2015 by
           

          READ FULL HOMILY
          “My hand shall ever abide with him, my arms also shall strengthen him” (Ps 89:21).

          This is what the Lord means when he says: “I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him” (v. 20). It is also what our Father thinks whenever he “encounters” a priest. And he goes on to say: “My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him… He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God and the rock of my salvation”’ (vv. 24, 26).

          It is good to enter with the Psalmist into this monologue of our God. He is talking about us, his priests, his pastors. But it is not really a monologue, since he is not the only one speaking. The Father says to Jesus: “Your friends, those who love you, can say to me in a particular way: ‘You are my Father’” (cf. Jn 14:21). If the Lord is so concerned about helping us, it is because he knows that the task of anointing his faithful people is demanding; it can tire us. We experience this in so many ways: from the ordinary fatigue brought on by our daily apostolate to the weariness of sickness, death and even martyrdom.

          The tiredness of priests! Do you know how often I think about this weariness which all of you experience? I think about it and I pray about it, often, especially when I am tired myself. I pray for you as you labour amid the people of God entrusted to your care, many of you in lonely and dangerous places. Our weariness, dear priests, is like incense which silently rises up to heaven (cf. Ps 141:2; Rev 8:3-4). Our weariness goes straight to the heart of the Father.

          Know that the Blessed Virgin Mary is well aware of this tiredness and she brings it straight to the Lord. As our Mother, she knows when her children are weary, and this is her greatest concern. “Welcome! Rest, my child. We will speak afterwards…”. “Whenever we draw near to her, she says to us: “Am I not here with you, I who am your Mother?” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 286). And to her Son she will say, as she did at Cana, “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3).

          It can also happen that, whenever we feel weighed down by pastoral work, we can be tempted to rest however we please, as if rest were not itself a gift of God. We must not fall into this temptation. Our weariness is precious in the eyes of Jesus who embraces us and lifts us up. “Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). Whenever a priest feels dead tired, yet is able to bow down in adoration and say: “Enough for today Lord”, and entrust himself to the Father, he knows that he will not fall but be renewed. The one who anoints God’s faithful people with oil is also himself anointed by the Lord: “He gives you a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit” (cf. Is 61:3).

          Let us never forget that a key to fruitful priestly ministry lies in how we rest and in how we look at the way the Lord deals with our weariness. How difficult it is to learn how to rest! This says much about our trust and our ability to realize that that we too are sheep. A few questions can help us in this regard.

          Do I know how to rest by accepting the love, gratitude and affection which I receive from God’s faithful people? Or, once my pastoral work is done, do I seek more refined relaxations, not those of the poor but those provided by a consumerist society? Is the Holy Spirit truly “rest in times of weariness” for me, or is he just someone who keeps me busy? Do I know how to seek help from a wise priest? Do I know how to take a break from myself, from the demands I make on myself, from my self-seeking and from my self-absorption? Do I know how to spend time with Jesus, with the Father, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, with my patron saints, and to find rest in their demands, which are easy and light, and in their pleasures, for they delight to be in my company, and in their concerns and standards, which have only to do with the greater glory of God? Do I know how to rest from my enemies under the Lord’s protection? Am I preoccupied with how I should speak and act, or do I entrust myself to the Holy Spirit, who will teach me what I need to say in every situation? Do I worry needlessly, or, like Paul, do I find repose by saying: “I know him in whom I have placed my trust” (2 Tim 1:12)?

          Let us return for a moment to what today’s liturgy describes as the work of the priest: to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to prisoners and healing to the blind, to offer liberation to the downtrodden and to announce the year of the Lord’s favour. Isaiah also mentions consoling the broken-hearted and comforting the afflicted.

          These are not easy or purely mechanical jobs, like running an office, building a parish hall or laying out a soccer field for the young of the parish… The tasks of which Jesus speaks call for the ability to show compassion; our hearts are to be “moved” and fully engaged in carrying them out. We are to rejoice with couples who marry; we are to laugh with the children brought to the baptismal font; we are to accompany young fiancés and families; we are to suffer with those who receive the anointing of the sick in their hospital beds; we are to mourn with those burying a loved one… All these emotions can exhaust the heart of a pastor. For us priests, what happens in the lives of our people is not like a news bulletin: we know our people, we sense what is going on in their hearts. Our own heart, sharing in their suffering, feels “com-passion”, is exhausted, broken into a thousand pieces, moved and even “consumed” by the people. Take this, eat this… These are the words the priest of Jesus whispers repeatedly while caring for his faithful people: Take this, eat this; take this, drink this… In this way our priestly life is given over in service, in closeness to the People of God… and this always leaves us weary.

          I wish to share with you some forms of weariness on which I have meditated.

          There is what we can call “the weariness of people, the weariness of the crowd”. For the Lord, and for us, this can be exhausting – so the Gospel tells us – yet it is a good weariness, a fruitful and joyful exhaustion. The people who followed Jesus, the families which brought their children to him to be blessed, those who had been cured, those who came with their friends, the young people who were so excited about the Master… they did not even leave him time to eat. But the Lord never tired of being with people. On the contrary, he seemed renewed by their presence (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 11). This weariness in the midst of activity is a grace on which all priests can draw (cf. ibid., 279). And how beautiful it is! People love their priests, they want and need their shepherds! The faithful never leave us without something to do, unless we hide in our offices or go out in our cars wearing sun glasses. There is a good and healthy tiredness. It is the exhaustion of the priest who wears the smell of the sheep… but also smiles the smile of a father rejoicing in his children or grandchildren. It has nothing to do with those who wear expensive cologne and who look at others from afar and from above (cf. ibid., 97). We are the friends of the Bridegroom: this is our joy. If Jesus is shepherding the flock in our midst, we cannot be shepherds who are glum, plaintive or, even worse, bored. The smell of the sheep and the smile of a father…. Weary, yes, but with the joy of those who hear the Lord saying: “Come, O blessed of my Father” (Mt 25:34).

          There is also the kind of weariness which we can call “the weariness of enemies”. The devil and his minions never sleep and, since their ears cannot bear to hear the word of God, they work tirelessly to silence that word and to distort it. Confronting them is more wearying. It involves not only doing good, with all the exertion this entails, but also defending the flock and oneself from evil (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 83). The evil one is far more astute than we are, and he is able to demolish in a moment what it took us years of patience to build up. Here we need to implore the grace to learn how to “offset”: to thwart evil without pulling up the good wheat, or presuming to protect like supermen what the Lord alone can protect. All this helps us not to let our guard down before the depths of iniquity, before the mockery of the wicked. In these situations of weariness, the Lord says to us: “Have courage! I have overcome the world!” (Jn 16:33).

          And finally – lest you be wearied by this homily itself! – there is also “weariness of ourselves” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 277). This may be the most dangerous weariness of all. That is because the other two kinds come from being exposed, from going out of ourselves to anoint and to do battle (for our job is to care for others). But this third kind of weariness is more “self-referential”: it is dissatisfaction with oneself, but not the dissatisfaction of someone who directly confronts himself and serenely acknowledges his sinfulness and his need for God’s mercy; such people ask for help and then move forward. Here we are speaking of a weariness associated with “wanting yet not wanting”, having given up everything but continuing to yearn for the fleshpots of Egypt, toying with the illusion of being something different. I like to call this kind of weariness “flirting with spiritual worldliness”. When we are alone, we realize how many areas of our life are steeped in this worldliness, so much so that we may feel that it can never be completely washed away. This can be a dangerous kind of weariness. The Book of Revelation shows us the reason for this weariness: “You have borne up for my sake and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev 2:3-4). Only love gives true rest. What is not loved becomes tiresome, and in time, brings about a harmful weariness.

          The most profound and mysterious image of how the Lord deals with our pastoral tiredness is that, “having loved his own, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1): the scene of his washing the feet of his disciples. I like to think of this as the cleansing of discipleship. The Lord purifies the path of discipleship itself. He “gets involved” with us (Evangelii Gaudium, 24), becomes personally responsible for removing every stain, all that grimy, worldly smog which clings to us from the journey we make in his name.

          From our feet, we can tell how the rest of our body is doing. The way we follow the Lord reveals how our heart is faring. The wounds on our feet, our sprains and our weariness, are signs of how we have followed him, of the paths we have taken in seeking the lost sheep and in leading the flock to green pastures and still waters (cf. ibid., 270). The Lord washes us and cleanses us of all the dirt our feet have accumulated in following him. This is something holy. Do not let your feet remain dirty. Like battle wounds, the Lord kisses them and washes away the grime of our labours.

          Our discipleship itself is cleansed by Jesus, so that we can rightly feel “joyful”, “fulfilled”, “free of fear and guilt”, and impelled to go out “even to the ends of the earth, to every periphery”. In this way we can bring the good news to the most abandoned, knowing that “he is with us always, even to the end of the world”. Let us learn how to be weary, but weary in the best of ways!
          KLH
          CTV
          JMMPI
          #HolyWeek

           
          LENT DAY 44 – CHRIST’S BODY AND BLOOD by Father Robert Barron
          The central and still startling claim of the Catholic Church is that Jesus is really, truly, and substantially present under the forms of bread and wine. His presence is not simply evocative and symbolic, not simply the result of our thinking so or wishing so, but rather real, true, and substantial.

          If you want to find this verified scripturally, look of course at the accounts of the Last Supper in Matthew, Mark, and Luke – and also in Paul. But look especially at the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus identifies himself as the “living bread come down from heaven,” and then he specifies, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

          Now this was extremely objectionable language for a Jew of Jesus’ time. To eat someone’s flesh was a term of contempt. More to it, the drinking of an animal’s blood was expressly forbidden throughout the Old Testament – much less the drinking of a man’s blood. But when Jesus’ listeners object, Jesus does not soften his language – he intensifies it: “My flesh is real food and my blood real drink.”

          How can we make sense of this claim? It has everything to do with who Jesus is. If he were simply an ordinary human being, his words would have, at best, a symbolic resonance. I can say, “This ring is a symbol of my love for you.” But Jesus is God, and what God says, is.

          God’s word affects reality at the most fundamental level. Thus, when Jesus’ words over the bread and wine are spoken, they change into what the words signify. They become really, truly, and substantially the body and blood of the Lord.

          The reality of this sacrament so important because “For whoever eats my bread and drinks my blood has eternal life.” The Eucharist, as the eternal presence of God, eternalizes those who consume it, making us ready for eternity. We participate in Jesus Christ through this sacrament.

          This is why we should be very careful, even a little wary, as we approach the communion table. Do we know what we’re getting into?
          
          Filed Under: Uncategorized
          « Previous Page
          Next Page »